alexferrer

Hi, I am a long time glider pilot and was a bit disappointed with the thermal simulator on X-plane 10, so, I wrote a python plugin to better emulate the behaviour of thermals on Xplane. It is still an early release, but it is already quite usable. The code is at https://github.com/alexferrer/xplane_thermals Advanced concepts already implemented: Regular Thermals (not dynamic lift) tend to have a strong core of lift followed by outward softer layers of lift. Thermals drift with the wind as they gain altitude. Thermals rise till they reach cloudbase or the top of the lift. At this point they dwindle off. When a wing of a plane hits a thermal and the other wing does not, the plane tends to roll against the lift. When the wing of the plane is on a roll, the thermal roll factor is reduced (less arm momentum) Thermals gain and loose strength along with the height of the sun in the sky A random thermal generator menu allows the user to select quantity of thermals, size and strength. The thermal placement is random, but smart enough not to set thermals above water surfaces. A thermal visualization aid (shows markers where the thermals are) exists with an option to turn it on/off on the plugin menu Todo: Thermals have cycles, begin, middle, end and they tend to keep a basic timming.

For what it is worth, I written a basic thermal simulator to emulate the behavior of simple thermals (not dynamic lift) At this point i am not yet drawing clouds above them (Don't know howto yet) but the energy model is working pretty good The code is at https://github.com/alexferrer/xplane_thermals it requires the python plugin to work.